Plastic containers have now been widely put into practical use as containers for beverages. As is widely known among people skilled in the art, the plastic containers are obtained by forming preformed articles (also, usually, called “preforms”) by compression-forming or injection-forming a suitable synthetic resin and, thereafter, blow-forming the preformed articles. The preformed article, usually, has a cylindrical mouth-and-neck portion and a blow-formed portion of the shape of a cylinder with bottom or of a circular truncated cone with bottom continuous to the mouth-and-neck portion and, further, has a ring-like flange formed at the lower end of the mouth-and-neck portion.
The preformed article of a considerably high temperature (a [glass transition temperature] of a synthetic resin which is a material of the preformed article up to the [glass transition temperature]+0.22×{[melting temperature]−[glass transition temperature] thereof}, in polyethylene terephthalate e.g., about 80° C. to about 120° C., usually, about 100° C.) is often taken out from the mold after compression-formed or injection-formed. In this case, the temperature, usually, must be cooled down to 60° C. or lower to prevent the formed articles from being melt-adhered together or from being damaged upon coming in contact with one another. JP-A-7-171888 and JP-A-8-103948 disclose apparatuses for cooling preformed articles by blowing the air stream to the preformed articles while the preformed articles taken out from the mold are being conveyed through a predetermined carrier passage.